WEBVTT 00:09:09.990 --> 00:09:11.250 Please take a seat. 00:09:11.250 --> 00:09:14.390 Welcome to Shul Foundation Baptist Church Sunday afternoon service. 00:09:14.390 --> 00:09:18.610 You will turn your hymnal to Psalm 409. 00:09:18.610 --> 00:09:32.990 The fight is on Psalm 409. 00:09:32.990 --> 00:09:36.590 Psalm, the trumpet's sound is ringing out. 00:09:36.590 --> 00:09:41.010 The cry to arms is heard far and near. 00:09:41.010 --> 00:09:46.720 The Lord of Hope is marching on to victory. 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:52.480 The triumph of the Christ will soon appear. 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:57.270 The fight is on, soldier. 00:09:57.270 --> 00:10:00.910 And face to face, sing, "Stern Array." 00:10:00.910 --> 00:10:07.080 With armor gleaming, streaming. 00:10:07.080 --> 00:10:18.070 The right and wrong is strong. 00:10:18.070 --> 00:10:27.780 And if God before His banner holds, 00:10:27.780 --> 00:10:35.810 sing the victor's song. 00:10:35.810 --> 00:10:37.260 Rouse these soldiers, bro. 00:10:37.260 --> 00:10:42.190 And through the joy, victory will assure. 00:10:42.190 --> 00:10:50.510 Go bomber guns, giving you and him. 00:10:50.510 --> 00:10:58.420 For will is on, so. 00:10:58.420 --> 00:11:05.750 And face to face, things turn dark. 00:11:05.750 --> 00:11:08.650 Colors streaming bright and raw. 00:11:08.650 --> 00:11:11.420 Gauge to day. 00:11:11.420 --> 00:11:14.290 The fight is on. 00:11:14.290 --> 00:11:18.060 He's strong. 00:11:18.060 --> 00:11:25.450 The year before is better. 00:11:25.450 --> 00:11:29.540 All sing the victor's song. 00:11:29.540 --> 00:11:37.120 Defund to certain victory. 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:41.950 The burst the eastern sky. 00:11:41.950 --> 00:11:48.340 His glorious name shall out the mong. 00:11:48.340 --> 00:11:52.000 The dawn of peace is nigh. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:57.320 So, Christian soldier. 00:11:57.320 --> 00:12:00.510 And face to face, things turn ugly. 00:12:00.510 --> 00:12:13.450 Color streamage to fight is nigh. 00:12:13.450 --> 00:12:19.320 Be strong and ye smile. 00:12:19.320 --> 00:12:24.700 If God be full, it's better. 00:12:24.700 --> 00:12:28.830 Sing the victor's song. 00:12:28.830 --> 00:12:34.420 We sing, let's open the service with a little prayer. 00:12:34.420 --> 00:12:35.910 Thank you Lord for this wonderful sound day. 00:12:35.910 --> 00:12:38.890 I pray that we'll have a great service and a great preaching from your word. 00:12:38.890 --> 00:12:41.360 I pray that we'll take something away from the sermon. 00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:43.350 I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. 00:12:43.350 --> 00:12:45.970 Alright, turn to Psalm number 369. 00:12:45.970 --> 00:12:50.490 Psalm 369, I know the Bible is true. 00:12:50.490 --> 00:13:04.510 No one was sad from God. 00:13:04.510 --> 00:14:49.510 Well-spotted Islam is that he returned to comforts me. 00:14:49.510 --> 00:16:13.050 So, like you're seeing, this time let's go over the bulletin. 00:16:13.050 --> 00:16:17.720 The verse of the week is Proverbs chapter 8, verse 36. 00:16:17.720 --> 00:16:20.650 But he that sineth against me wronged his own soul. 00:16:20.650 --> 00:16:23.200 All they that hate me love death. 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:25.170 That's why we should not celebrate Halloween, 00:16:25.170 --> 00:16:27.130 because it's a holiday of darkness. 00:16:27.130 --> 00:16:28.610 It's a holiday of death. 00:16:28.610 --> 00:16:31.170 And looking at the inside page, 00:16:31.170 --> 00:16:33.160 we have service time Sunday morning at 11, 00:16:33.160 --> 00:16:35.140 Sunday afternoon service at 4, 00:16:35.140 --> 00:16:37.130 and Wednesday night Bible study at 7 p.m. 00:16:37.130 --> 00:16:39.120 This Wednesday we'll be going through judges, 00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:40.110 chapter number 3. 00:16:40.110 --> 00:16:42.590 We will see three judges in this chapter, 00:16:42.590 --> 00:16:45.050 so please join us. 00:16:45.050 --> 00:16:48.070 And then we have Sunday afternoon at 1.30, 00:16:48.070 --> 00:16:51.020 and Saturday morning at 10.30 a.m. 00:16:51.020 --> 00:16:53.230 Upcoming events, pie and pray service, 00:16:53.230 --> 00:16:55.220 will take place during the Sunday afternoon service 00:16:55.220 --> 00:16:56.210 on November 23rd. 00:16:56.210 --> 00:16:58.210 Please bring a pie to share. 00:16:58.210 --> 00:17:01.190 It will be a modified service with a shorter sermon, 00:17:01.190 --> 00:17:04.180 with song requests and all the other fun activities. 00:17:04.180 --> 00:17:06.170 Christmas service will take place on Sunday, 00:17:06.170 --> 00:17:07.170 December 21st. 00:17:07.170 --> 00:17:08.170 Please invite family and friends. 00:17:08.170 --> 00:17:11.150 I will have a sign-up sheet for the potluck later, 00:17:11.150 --> 00:17:12.150 probably in November. 00:17:12.150 --> 00:17:14.140 And then Christmas Eve service will be on Wednesday, 00:17:14.140 --> 00:17:15.140 December 24th. 00:17:15.140 --> 00:17:17.320 So if you don't normally come on Wednesday, 00:17:17.320 --> 00:17:20.320 this is the Wednesday that you want to show up. 00:17:20.320 --> 00:17:24.370 And then please use the QR code for the baby registry. 00:17:24.370 --> 00:17:28.340 Also, there's a link in the WhatsApp group as well. 00:17:28.340 --> 00:17:33.190 There will also be a baby shower right after the service today. 00:17:33.190 --> 00:17:38.150 And then Gary's Sonya Marathon next month will be November 22nd. 00:17:38.150 --> 00:17:42.090 More details to come about the time and the meetup location. 00:17:42.090 --> 00:17:46.140 And then December 27th is the winter Wonderland Sonya Marathon. 00:17:46.140 --> 00:17:49.120 We'll meet up around one o'clock or Sonya for three, four hours, 00:17:49.120 --> 00:17:54.130 and then we're going to probably go to City Barbecue or some place like that. 00:17:54.130 --> 00:17:58.040 And then please help us with the cleaning of the church building right after the service. 00:17:58.040 --> 00:18:02.450 If you flip on the back side, we have birthdays coming up. 00:18:02.450 --> 00:18:05.420 We have my birthday and Brother Wade's birthday. 00:18:05.420 --> 00:18:10.000 So let's sing Happy Birthday to Brother Wade. 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:10.970 All right, let's do it. 00:18:10.970 --> 00:18:15.750 Happy birthday to you. 00:18:15.750 --> 00:18:22.430 Happy birthday, God. 00:18:22.430 --> 00:18:31.840 Self. 00:18:31.840 --> 00:18:37.530 That's on Halloween. 00:18:37.530 --> 00:18:41.490 So anyway, I'm kidding. 00:18:41.490 --> 00:18:46.160 All right, let's sing one more song, and then we'll take up the offering. 00:18:46.160 --> 00:18:48.110 Go to song number 396. 00:18:48.110 --> 00:18:50.240 So little time. 00:18:50.240 --> 00:18:52.830 396. 00:18:52.830 --> 00:19:01.640 On the first. 00:19:01.640 --> 00:19:04.560 So little time. 00:19:04.560 --> 00:19:08.530 The harvest will be over. 00:19:08.530 --> 00:19:11.190 Reaping down. 00:19:11.190 --> 00:19:15.170 We reapers taken home. 00:19:15.170 --> 00:19:22.760 Report our word to Jesus, Lord of harvest. 00:19:22.760 --> 00:19:28.410 And hope He'll smile, and that He'll say, "Well done." 00:19:28.410 --> 00:19:41.430 So go the day is king, us lost souls too. 00:19:41.430 --> 00:19:59.040 To say some dear ones from the day when some sinner touch. 00:19:59.040 --> 00:20:08.950 I shall have strongly plead, strictly warn. 00:20:08.950 --> 00:20:17.190 Spirit, mood, I pledge Jesus. 00:20:17.190 --> 00:20:23.440 The grained is false, once not reborn. 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:36.610 Day we reek, lost souls too. 00:20:36.610 --> 00:20:53.190 To say some dear ones from the day when some sinners. 00:20:53.190 --> 00:20:57.190 By the heat, ceaseless toil. 00:20:57.190 --> 00:21:07.240 The harshest cannot win. 00:21:07.240 --> 00:21:15.130 Understood regrets. 00:21:15.130 --> 00:22:05.310 To say some dear ones from the day when souls are brought. 00:22:05.310 --> 00:22:13.300 To have a sad to face the slacker lane. 00:22:13.300 --> 00:22:44.150 To say some dear ones from the day when some sinners. 00:22:44.150 --> 00:22:47.660 One reaper's fill his way. 00:22:47.660 --> 00:23:36.950 Stains for saying some sinners. 00:23:36.950 --> 00:23:37.860 Please come. 00:23:37.860 --> 00:23:42.510 Brother Brett, would you pray for the offering, please? 00:23:42.510 --> 00:24:38.210 We're going to be in Ecclesiastes chapter 6. 00:24:38.210 --> 00:24:41.100 Ecclesiastes chapter 6 today. 00:24:41.100 --> 00:24:44.670 If you don't have a Bible, please raise your hand so you can read along. 00:24:44.670 --> 00:24:47.630 Ecclesiastes chapter 6, verse 1 says, 00:24:47.630 --> 00:24:50.590 "There's an evil which I have seen under the sun, 00:24:50.590 --> 00:24:52.620 and is common among men. 00:24:52.620 --> 00:24:56.620 A man to whom God have given riches, wealth, and honor, 00:24:56.620 --> 00:25:00.570 so that he wants nothing for a soul of all that he desireeth. 00:25:00.570 --> 00:25:04.800 Yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, 00:25:04.800 --> 00:25:06.790 but a stranger eateth it. 00:25:06.790 --> 00:25:09.780 This is vanity, and it is an evil disease. 00:25:09.780 --> 00:25:13.760 If a man beget a hundred children and live many years, 00:25:13.760 --> 00:25:16.750 so that the days of his years be many, 00:25:16.750 --> 00:25:18.740 and his soul be not filled with good, 00:25:18.740 --> 00:25:20.730 and also that he have no burial, 00:25:20.730 --> 00:25:25.770 I say that an untimely birth is better than he. 00:25:25.770 --> 00:25:29.710 For he cometh in with vanity and departeth in darkness, 00:25:29.710 --> 00:25:32.740 and his name shall be covered with darkness. 00:25:32.740 --> 00:25:37.680 Moreover, he have not seen the sun, nor known anything; 00:25:37.680 --> 00:25:39.650 this have more rest than the other. 00:25:39.650 --> 00:25:43.700 Yea, though he live a thousand years, twice cold, 00:25:43.700 --> 00:25:49.190 yet have he seen no good, do not all go to one place. 00:25:49.190 --> 00:25:54.140 All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled. 00:25:54.140 --> 00:25:58.510 For what have the wise more than the fool? 00:25:58.510 --> 00:26:03.600 What hath the poor that knoweth to walk before the living? 00:26:03.600 --> 00:26:08.560 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. 00:26:08.560 --> 00:26:10.550 This is also vanity and vexation of spirit. 00:26:10.550 --> 00:26:16.740 That which have been is named already, and it is known that it is man. 00:26:16.740 --> 00:26:21.760 Neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he. 00:26:21.760 --> 00:26:27.750 Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the better? 00:26:27.750 --> 00:26:33.710 For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life, 00:26:33.710 --> 00:26:35.690 which he spendeth as a shadow? 00:26:35.690 --> 00:26:40.660 For who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun? 00:26:40.660 --> 00:26:42.750 Evangelist Justin, could you please pray for us? 00:26:42.750 --> 00:27:05.850 So, let's look again here, let's look at verse number 9 here of the chapter I was just read in Ecclesiastes chapter 6. 00:27:05.850 --> 00:27:12.240 It says here, "Better is the sight of the eyes than the wondering of the desire." 00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:14.370 This is also vanity, vexation, and spirit. 00:27:14.370 --> 00:27:20.230 And the book of Ecclesiastes really covers a lot of the life under the sun, and just 00:27:20.230 --> 00:27:22.210 a lot of things are happening. 00:27:22.210 --> 00:27:24.310 Ultimately, in itself, it's vanity. 00:27:24.310 --> 00:27:27.910 But, you know, if you're here for the Wednesday night series where we went through the book 00:27:27.910 --> 00:27:31.910 of Ecclesiastes, it finishes off saying, "Hey, as long as you're living for God, as long 00:27:31.910 --> 00:27:36.850 as you're living for the things of heaven, the kingdom of heaven, actually, if that's 00:27:36.850 --> 00:27:40.890 your end, well, everything leading up to it is actually very useful." 00:27:40.890 --> 00:27:42.580 And that's what my sermon's going to be about. 00:27:42.580 --> 00:27:46.350 The title of my sermon is, "It Ain't Tricky to be Thrifty." 00:27:46.350 --> 00:27:48.860 It ain't tricky to be thrifty. 00:27:48.860 --> 00:27:52.970 So this sermon is going to be basically talking about being thrifty, being small with your 00:27:52.970 --> 00:27:55.330 finances, stuff you have, being resourceful. 00:27:55.330 --> 00:27:57.580 And I think we as Christians should be resourceful. 00:27:57.580 --> 00:27:58.750 We should. 00:27:58.750 --> 00:28:04.290 I think God has given us a lot of things so that we can glorify him, ultimately, because 00:28:04.290 --> 00:28:08.520 I don't think God wants us to be wasteful people and things of that nature. 00:28:08.520 --> 00:28:14.760 If you will turn with me to 1 Timothy chapter 6, 1 Timothy chapter 6. 00:28:14.760 --> 00:28:22.250 Now before I get into this sermon, I'll be covering some things, how you can be thrifty, 00:28:22.250 --> 00:28:25.890 some tips and tricks, how to save money and things like that, because things are getting 00:28:25.890 --> 00:28:27.060 expensive. 00:28:27.060 --> 00:28:29.010 I wanted to just make this clarification. 00:28:29.010 --> 00:28:32.630 So my first point will be, do not desire to be rich now. 00:28:32.630 --> 00:28:38.150 Well, we should work hard, earn money, pay our bills, save money on the side, so we can 00:28:38.150 --> 00:28:44.150 have money to bless others with, to be a blessing to others, for the church and for other Christians. 00:28:44.150 --> 00:28:45.660 By the end of the day, that's not what our life is about. 00:28:45.660 --> 00:28:50.500 Our life is not about just getting money, just stockpiling food, clothing, wealth, things 00:28:50.500 --> 00:28:51.550 like that. 00:28:51.550 --> 00:28:56.360 This is what the Bible says here in 1 Timothy chapter 6, look at verse 6, it says this, 00:28:56.360 --> 00:29:02.730 "But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into this world and 00:29:02.730 --> 00:29:05.900 is certain, weak in brain, carrying nothing out." 00:29:05.900 --> 00:29:09.750 And Job also talks about this, "Hey, I was naked when I came into this world, naked shall 00:29:09.750 --> 00:29:13.770 I return, blessed be the name of the Lord, the Lord giveth, he taketh away, blessed be 00:29:13.770 --> 00:29:14.760 the name of the Lord." 00:29:14.760 --> 00:29:18.250 Now, that should be our attitude, we should have a loose grip on everything that we have 00:29:18.250 --> 00:29:23.240 in this life, but we should also put it to good use as long as we have it, you know. 00:29:23.240 --> 00:29:29.220 It says in verse 8, "And having food and raiment, let us therewith be content, for they that 00:29:29.220 --> 00:29:37.250 will be rich, fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which 00:29:37.250 --> 00:29:40.640 drown men in destruction and perdition." 00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:44.000 And you could also say, hey, women, if they get sucked into this, they could also be drowned 00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:49.220 into many hurtful lusts as well, because a lot of people really talk to the unsafe people. 00:29:49.220 --> 00:29:55.110 That's really their desire to be famous, get rich, make a name for themselves, get famous, 00:29:55.110 --> 00:29:59.200 leave themselves a legacy for the next generation, right? 00:29:59.200 --> 00:30:03.760 Well, that can be fulfilled by being a Christian, because everything you do is eternal as a 00:30:03.760 --> 00:30:04.740 Christian. 00:30:04.740 --> 00:30:10.290 Everything you do for the Lord, how many souls you win, you just being encouraging to your 00:30:10.290 --> 00:30:11.270 brothers and sisters. 00:30:11.270 --> 00:30:14.740 You know, let's say someone's going through a tough time in this church, let's say there 00:30:14.740 --> 00:30:18.460 was a job or something, you're there, you encourage them, be like, "Hey, brother, I 00:30:18.460 --> 00:30:19.560 was there. 00:30:19.560 --> 00:30:20.770 Here's some verses that got me through it. 00:30:20.770 --> 00:30:22.300 Maybe they'll get you through it as well." 00:30:22.300 --> 00:30:23.550 You know, that's going to last forever. 00:30:23.550 --> 00:30:27.550 God's going to remember everything you do that's spiritual. 00:30:27.550 --> 00:30:32.600 And that's why we have this innate desire to leave a legacy, because it's really to 00:30:32.600 --> 00:30:37.480 please God, because that will be remembered for eternity in heaven. 00:30:37.480 --> 00:30:45.200 It says in Proverbs 23 verse 4, "Labored not to be rich, cease from thy own wisdom." 00:30:45.200 --> 00:30:51.230 So Bible talks about the wisdom of the world and how, you know, the world has its own wisdom, 00:30:51.230 --> 00:30:52.210 and it works. 00:30:52.210 --> 00:30:55.390 You know, "Hey, if you follow the ways of the wisdom of this world, you'll get rich." 00:30:55.390 --> 00:30:56.460 But to what end? 00:30:56.460 --> 00:31:00.210 You know, and that's really why I love the book of Ecclesiastes, because it really addresses 00:31:00.210 --> 00:31:01.430 that. 00:31:01.430 --> 00:31:02.380 Okay, yes. 00:31:02.380 --> 00:31:03.510 You could get all this stuff. 00:31:03.510 --> 00:31:04.480 You could work hard. 00:31:04.480 --> 00:31:07.090 I mean, King Solomon was the richest man on the earth at the time. 00:31:07.090 --> 00:31:12.780 He had everything you could have ever wanted—fame, wealth, women, everything—but what was the 00:31:12.780 --> 00:31:14.620 end of it? 00:31:14.620 --> 00:31:15.780 It was vanity. 00:31:15.780 --> 00:31:19.220 It didn't bring him true happiness and joy in life. 00:31:19.220 --> 00:31:23.340 That's why he went through that whole episode in the book of Ecclesiastes being like, "Well, 00:31:23.340 --> 00:31:26.660 I guess the only thing that really matters is just having what you have from the Lord 00:31:26.660 --> 00:31:29.150 and enjoying it and then just serving others." 00:31:29.150 --> 00:31:37.440 Again, the end is not gained in wealth in itself, but it can be the means to the ultimate 00:31:37.440 --> 00:31:42.070 end, which is bringing glory to God in his kingdom, to heaven. 00:31:42.070 --> 00:31:45.490 And again, the desire to be rich is a trap and it will destroy your life. 00:31:45.490 --> 00:31:46.410 It just will. 00:31:46.410 --> 00:31:50.800 I mean, I've never met a person that is making a lot of money right now, and that's their 00:31:50.800 --> 00:31:51.920 desire. 00:31:51.920 --> 00:31:52.880 And they're just like, "Okay, I've made enough money. 00:31:52.880 --> 00:31:54.040 That's it. 00:31:54.040 --> 00:31:55.030 I'm good." 00:31:55.030 --> 00:31:56.020 No, usually they're like, "I want to make more money. 00:31:56.020 --> 00:31:57.120 I want to keep making more and more." 00:31:57.120 --> 00:32:01.000 And this wasn't on my notes, this just came to my mind, but the parable of the guy that's 00:32:01.000 --> 00:32:06.250 building his barn in the farm, he was like, "Well actually, I'm running out of room to 00:32:06.250 --> 00:32:08.010 store my goods, so I'm going to build a bigger barn." 00:32:08.010 --> 00:32:11.680 But Jesus says, "Hey, that night his soul is going to be required of him, he was going 00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:12.880 to die that night." 00:32:12.880 --> 00:32:18.140 So yeah, you could work hard, spend decades of your life just doing all this stuff, and 00:32:18.140 --> 00:32:19.720 actually know you die. 00:32:19.720 --> 00:32:22.200 And then that's it, you couldn't even get to enjoy it. 00:32:22.200 --> 00:32:26.680 And that's why in that chapter in Ecclesiastes 6, it's an evil disease when men can't enjoy 00:32:26.680 --> 00:32:30.230 the things that they earn and actually get. 00:32:30.230 --> 00:32:31.160 So that's my first point. 00:32:31.160 --> 00:32:33.590 That's a pretty short point, just a little caveat. 00:32:33.590 --> 00:32:39.540 Hey, you know, I'm going to be talking about some ways to save money, maybe make money 00:32:39.540 --> 00:32:43.230 to help you, you know, in your life because again, things are expensive, but that should 00:32:43.230 --> 00:32:44.220 not be your desire. 00:32:44.220 --> 00:32:45.630 That should not be your ultimate thing in life. 00:32:45.630 --> 00:32:49.950 It should be so that you can be a better Christian, help others and things like that, be a blessing 00:32:49.950 --> 00:32:51.250 to others. 00:32:51.250 --> 00:32:52.180 So that's my first point. 00:32:52.180 --> 00:32:54.170 Do not desire to be rich. 00:32:54.170 --> 00:32:59.510 Point number two, God expects us to be good stewards of what we have. 00:32:59.510 --> 00:33:06.010 So if you would turn with me to Proverbs chapter 27, we'll get into that. 00:33:06.010 --> 00:33:12.890 And again, it says in Proverbs 27 verse 23, I'll read to you the verse, "Be thou diligent 00:33:12.890 --> 00:33:17.950 to know the state of thy flocks and to look well to thy herds." 00:33:17.950 --> 00:33:21.320 So the Bible says we should know the state of our flocks. 00:33:21.320 --> 00:33:24.350 Now that can be interpreted in many different ways in our modern lives. 00:33:24.350 --> 00:33:28.130 That could be your kids, make sure your kids are safe, they're healthy, they're getting 00:33:28.130 --> 00:33:29.660 their nutrients and things like that. 00:33:29.660 --> 00:33:32.780 Take care of yourself, make sure you're taking care of yourself as well. 00:33:32.780 --> 00:33:35.980 I think God wants us to take care of our bodies to the best of our ability. 00:33:35.980 --> 00:33:39.450 You know, make sure you're eating the right foods, you're getting exercise and things 00:33:39.450 --> 00:33:41.060 like that. 00:33:41.060 --> 00:33:44.720 But also, I'm more going to be applying this to financial. 00:33:44.720 --> 00:33:51.460 Says here in Proverbs 27, look at verse 24, "I went by the field of the slothful, and 00:33:51.460 --> 00:33:54.200 the vineyard of the man void of understanding." 00:33:54.200 --> 00:33:59.150 So the applied is to modern day, let's say there's this lazy guy who owns a business, 00:33:59.150 --> 00:34:00.080 and it's just run down. 00:34:00.080 --> 00:34:06.190 It says, "And well, it was all grown over, with thorns and nettles had covered the face 00:34:06.190 --> 00:34:09.250 thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down." 00:34:09.250 --> 00:34:11.550 So this guy's not taking care of his property. 00:34:11.550 --> 00:34:15.350 I mean, his wall's broken down, there's nettles and thorns overgrown and everything, right? 00:34:15.350 --> 00:34:17.590 "Then I saw and considered it well. 00:34:17.590 --> 00:34:24.610 I looked upon it and received instruction, yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little 00:34:24.610 --> 00:34:33.160 full of new pants to sleep, so shall thy poverty come as one that traveleth, or as I want as 00:34:33.160 --> 00:34:34.220 an armed man." 00:34:34.220 --> 00:34:35.190 So it's always a little, right? 00:34:35.190 --> 00:34:36.670 It always starts off with just, "Oh, I'm going to sleep in a little bit today." 00:34:36.670 --> 00:34:41.170 "Oh, well, maybe I'll just skip church this Sunday, just to sleep in or something." 00:34:41.170 --> 00:34:45.230 It always starts out with a little inch and next thing you know, you're going to be missing 00:34:45.230 --> 00:34:49.030 out on a whole bunch of stuff, your whole life's going to crash and burn, but this can 00:34:49.030 --> 00:34:49.970 also apply financially. 00:34:49.970 --> 00:34:56.280 Now, "Oh, I really want this thing right now, so I'm going to spend the 50 bucks now," or 00:34:56.280 --> 00:35:01.520 you could exercise some discipline in yourself, "Okay, I'll put a note on it, maybe I can 00:35:01.520 --> 00:35:04.950 find it cheaper somewhere else and save that $50 for something else." 00:35:04.950 --> 00:35:07.090 See, it always starts off something small. 00:35:07.090 --> 00:35:11.350 That's what the Bible says we should be diligent instead of a flock, so financially speaking, 00:35:11.350 --> 00:35:15.930 we should know how much money we have in our bank account so that we can be responsible 00:35:15.930 --> 00:35:20.500 with it, use it so we can pay our bills, especially if you're a guy and you're a father of the 00:35:20.500 --> 00:35:23.340 home and you're paying your bills, make sure everything's taken care of so that no one 00:35:23.340 --> 00:35:26.900 in your house has to worry about if you're going to have food or not and everything 00:35:26.900 --> 00:35:29.360 like that. 00:35:29.360 --> 00:35:34.380 And in Proverbs chapter 24, you can turn it over if you want, Proverbs chapter 24 verse 00:35:34.380 --> 00:35:40.750 30, it says this, "I went by the field, and of the slothful," again, the slothful man's 00:35:40.750 --> 00:35:45.690 field, it's always run down, "and by the vineyard, and of the man void of understanding. 00:35:45.690 --> 00:35:51.910 And while it was all grown over with thorns and nettles, had covered the face thereof, 00:35:51.910 --> 00:35:56.120 and the stone wall there was broken down, then I saw and considered it while I looked 00:35:56.120 --> 00:35:59.340 upon it and received instruction," oh, I already read that, yeah, we'll see, we'll 00:35:59.340 --> 00:36:05.550 hold it in our hands, so again, you can look at other people's failures and get instruction 00:36:05.550 --> 00:36:09.070 from it, right, that's what it says here, "I looked well and I received instruction," 00:36:09.070 --> 00:36:13.040 so it's, you know, a lot of people say this, and I agree with this statement, you know, 00:36:13.040 --> 00:36:16.550 learn from your mistakes, absolutely, we should learn from our mistakes in our life, but even 00:36:16.550 --> 00:36:19.820 better than that, learn from other people's mistakes, so that you don't have to make that 00:36:19.820 --> 00:36:25.330 mistake, hey, I don't need to go out and waste my 20s getting drunk and come in for indication 00:36:25.330 --> 00:36:28.170 to find out that it's bad for me, I can just look at other people that I work with, other 00:36:28.170 --> 00:36:31.630 people I've known in my life, yeah, I don't want to do that, that's cool, I'm good, you 00:36:31.630 --> 00:36:37.160 know, I don't want to get an STD, I don't want to get drunk and poison my body and destroy 00:36:37.160 --> 00:36:42.490 my liver and next thing you know I get cancer or something like that, no I'm good, you know. 00:36:42.490 --> 00:36:47.400 I think the last place for this one I want to turn to is Matthew chapter 20, you can 00:36:47.400 --> 00:36:59.390 turn there, Matthew chapter 20, Matthew chapter 20 verse 1, "So for the kingdom of heaven 00:36:59.390 --> 00:37:03.650 is like unto a man that is an householder which went out early in the morning to hire 00:37:03.650 --> 00:37:10.170 laborers into his vineyard and when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day," 00:37:10.170 --> 00:37:15.140 so they agreed to a penny a day, that's their wage for the day, "he sent them into his vineyard 00:37:15.140 --> 00:37:19.610 and he went out about the third hour and saw others," and notice verse 8 times we go to 00:37:19.610 --> 00:37:23.750 verse 12, "so basically he hired a bunch of people, they were getting the same wage throughout 00:37:23.750 --> 00:37:28.480 the whole day, some showed up later, he hired them later throughout the day, some worked 00:37:28.480 --> 00:37:33.800 the whole day, but they all received the same payment," verse 12 it says, "saying that these 00:37:33.800 --> 00:37:39.730 last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne 00:37:39.730 --> 00:37:42.040 the burden and heat of the day. 00:37:42.040 --> 00:37:46.130 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong. 00:37:46.130 --> 00:37:52.190 What didst thou not agree with me for a penny? 00:37:52.190 --> 00:37:58.200 Take that thine is, and go thy way, I will give unto this last even as unto thee." 00:37:58.200 --> 00:38:02.530 So they were getting a little envious and angry, because they were thinking, well, these 00:38:02.530 --> 00:38:06.260 guys won't work for like two hours, how come they're getting the same pay that I got when 00:38:06.260 --> 00:38:07.820 I worked all day? 00:38:07.820 --> 00:38:14.670 Again, if you read in verse two, they agreed to a penny a day. 00:38:14.670 --> 00:38:17.990 And that's the thing, when you let the desire to be rich into your heart, you can end up 00:38:17.990 --> 00:38:22.040 like these guys, envious of other people, how much they're making. 00:38:22.040 --> 00:38:26.590 I've met people like that, I know people like that, where, oh, when someone else is succeeding 00:38:26.590 --> 00:38:31.340 financially in some way, they get a weird attitude where they hate that person now. 00:38:31.340 --> 00:38:34.470 Like, especially in my family, I'm always happy if someone's doing well. 00:38:34.470 --> 00:38:41.120 That should be your attitude as a Christian, and in church, if a brother or a sister is 00:38:41.120 --> 00:38:45.600 just really excelling, really killing it, like it's soul winning or whatever, you should 00:38:45.600 --> 00:38:46.540 be happy for that person. 00:38:46.540 --> 00:38:48.230 You shouldn't be envious of that person. 00:38:48.230 --> 00:38:51.260 I always, I never understood that attitude, it's just weird. 00:38:51.260 --> 00:38:56.300 Like, oh, someone got 500 people saved, like, oh, you know, oh, that's great, more people 00:38:56.300 --> 00:39:00.680 are going to hell, that's, I'm just amening because I'm like, great, at least someone 00:39:00.680 --> 00:39:04.240 else is, you know, picking up the slack, doing the work. 00:39:04.240 --> 00:39:10.120 So you can buy that spiritually and carnally, you know, if someone gets a promotion at work, 00:39:10.120 --> 00:39:13.460 you should not be envious of that person, you should be happy for that person. 00:39:13.460 --> 00:39:18.400 You know, I'll say this, at my job, where I work at right now, there are some people 00:39:18.400 --> 00:39:21.240 that are in similar positions to me that make more than me. 00:39:21.240 --> 00:39:25.370 I could be like the one get mad at that, or I'm actually happy about that because it gives 00:39:25.370 --> 00:39:27.970 me hope because maybe one day I'll make that much amount of money. 00:39:27.970 --> 00:39:28.890 That's my thought process. 00:39:28.890 --> 00:39:34.460 Anyway, that's point number two, point number one, do not desire to be rich, point number 00:39:34.460 --> 00:39:36.500 two, God expects us to be good stewards of what we have. 00:39:36.500 --> 00:39:40.020 And again, whatever we have, it doesn't matter how much we're making, we should be grateful 00:39:40.020 --> 00:39:44.480 what we have, we should be content with what we have and be good stewards of it. 00:39:44.480 --> 00:39:47.110 We should be diligent with the state of our flocks. 00:39:47.110 --> 00:39:52.230 We shouldn't just be wasting money at whatever, we should have discipline, be able to save 00:39:52.230 --> 00:39:53.220 money. 00:39:53.220 --> 00:39:56.750 I get it, in this economy it's hard to save money with inflation, it's crazy, the Jews 00:39:56.750 --> 00:40:00.360 have done an absolute number on this economy and everything. 00:40:00.360 --> 00:40:02.180 I get that. 00:40:02.180 --> 00:40:05.020 But point number three, we must balance these two things. 00:40:05.020 --> 00:40:08.680 Yes, we shouldn't decide to be rich, we also should be good stewards of things. 00:40:08.680 --> 00:40:10.230 How do we balance these things? 00:40:10.230 --> 00:40:11.820 This is how. 00:40:11.820 --> 00:40:18.780 In Proverbs chapter 20 verses 23, it says that a false balance is an abomination to 00:40:18.780 --> 00:40:20.280 God. 00:40:20.280 --> 00:40:26.520 So, Daver's weights are an abomination unto the Lord and a false balance is not good. 00:40:26.520 --> 00:40:28.830 So we should have everything in the right balance. 00:40:28.830 --> 00:40:33.700 We should have our time where we're going over our budget, going over what's in our 00:40:33.700 --> 00:40:38.210 bank account, what we need, but don't let that overtake your life. 00:40:38.210 --> 00:40:39.180 That's all you think about. 00:40:39.180 --> 00:40:43.190 There's a lot of people, they're so worried about it, they're like, "I have enough money 00:40:43.190 --> 00:40:44.160 this week." 00:40:44.160 --> 00:40:48.150 Especially if you're a saved Christian, God knows what you need. 00:40:48.150 --> 00:40:50.270 He knows before you even ask. 00:40:50.270 --> 00:40:52.460 He knows exactly what you need. 00:40:52.460 --> 00:40:55.460 Especially if you're a saved Christian, He'll help you out. 00:40:55.460 --> 00:40:57.730 He will. 00:40:57.730 --> 00:41:01.710 So we should have that balance where we're still putting God first in our life, we're 00:41:01.710 --> 00:41:08.600 still putting church and reading the Bible and everything like that, but sometimes our 00:41:08.600 --> 00:41:13.140 worries financially about the future and things like that, that can grip people where to the 00:41:13.140 --> 00:41:18.710 point you can't function and you're just like, what am I going to be able to do a couple 00:41:18.710 --> 00:41:21.300 weeks from now, a couple years from now? 00:41:21.300 --> 00:41:25.020 Now sometimes we just don't know, at some point we just got to put our trust in the 00:41:25.020 --> 00:41:26.800 Lord. 00:41:26.800 --> 00:41:32.450 It says in Proverbs chapter 11 verse 1, it says again, "A false balance is an abomination 00:41:32.450 --> 00:41:36.170 to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight." 00:41:36.170 --> 00:41:43.120 And I'll go to this, you don't have to turn here, but Matthew chapter 6 says this. 00:41:43.120 --> 00:41:45.530 So again, how do we balance these things? 00:41:45.530 --> 00:41:50.080 This is what it says here in Matthew 6 verse 33, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God 00:41:50.080 --> 00:41:53.950 and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." 00:41:53.950 --> 00:41:55.570 All things. 00:41:55.570 --> 00:42:00.360 "Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought of the things 00:42:00.360 --> 00:42:04.030 of itself sufficient unto the day as the evil thereof." 00:42:04.030 --> 00:42:09.990 So does God really want us to be just so overtaken by worry with what we're going to eat, what 00:42:09.990 --> 00:42:12.490 we're going to drink, how much money we're going to make? 00:42:12.490 --> 00:42:13.940 No. 00:42:13.940 --> 00:42:14.920 Now I'm not saying not to care at all. 00:42:14.920 --> 00:42:15.890 That's not what the verse is saying here. 00:42:15.890 --> 00:42:19.850 It's just saying, hey listen, take care of the things you have, ultimately just have 00:42:19.850 --> 00:42:23.810 faith in God that he's going to take care of you, and just leave it up to him and let 00:42:23.810 --> 00:42:24.820 God be God. 00:42:24.820 --> 00:42:25.850 Let him do his work. 00:42:25.850 --> 00:42:30.310 That's how I've been operating for the last three to four years, just allowing God just 00:42:30.310 --> 00:42:32.350 to take care of everything else. 00:42:32.350 --> 00:42:33.270 It works. 00:42:33.270 --> 00:42:35.060 It does. 00:42:35.060 --> 00:42:36.030 Is it always easy? 00:42:36.030 --> 00:42:37.000 No. 00:42:37.000 --> 00:42:38.930 That's why very few people do it. 00:42:38.930 --> 00:42:44.370 So that was my first section of the sermon, just kind of going over the biblical backings 00:42:44.370 --> 00:42:48.850 of being a good steward, just how we balance these things, how we shouldn't desire to 00:42:48.850 --> 00:42:53.920 be rich, how we should allow God to just do what he needs to do. 00:42:53.920 --> 00:42:55.590 I'll say this. 00:42:55.590 --> 00:42:59.370 Because a lot of people think, "Oh, I drive so far to church, I'm spending all this money 00:42:59.370 --> 00:43:00.710 on carbine and stuff like that. 00:43:00.710 --> 00:43:02.170 I need to stop doing that. 00:43:02.170 --> 00:43:07.460 I need to go, you know, take, I got to work more hours, I got to work on Sunday, and if 00:43:07.460 --> 00:43:08.980 I do that, I'll make more money, have more money." 00:43:08.980 --> 00:43:11.230 Actually, you're going to lose money if you do that. 00:43:11.230 --> 00:43:14.900 You'll actually end up being worse off than you were if you were just staying put where 00:43:14.900 --> 00:43:16.010 you are. 00:43:16.010 --> 00:43:16.990 And I'll be honest with you. 00:43:16.990 --> 00:43:17.960 I'll confess my fault to you. 00:43:17.960 --> 00:43:18.940 I have that thought sometimes. 00:43:18.940 --> 00:43:21.140 I'm kind of like, "Well, I'm doing all this driving, man. 00:43:21.140 --> 00:43:26.030 If I just stopped doing this long drive Wednesdays and Sundays, I saved so much money on gas." 00:43:26.030 --> 00:43:30.690 But then I'm thinking, "But God knows I have the ability to go to the best church in my 00:43:30.690 --> 00:43:32.000 area. 00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:37.050 So if I stop doing that, well, I'm not going to have God's blessings as I've been getting 00:43:37.050 --> 00:43:38.720 initially. 00:43:38.720 --> 00:43:39.690 So actually, it's going to be worse. 00:43:39.690 --> 00:43:41.410 God will just make something happen. 00:43:41.410 --> 00:43:48.320 He'll just have the decayer come to my car or something, or something else would happen. 00:43:48.320 --> 00:43:53.840 You think you'll be better off not serving God fully to your ability, but you'll actually 00:43:53.840 --> 00:43:59.000 be worse off than you were before. 00:43:59.000 --> 00:44:01.650 And tithing is always the thing too, like, "Oh, if I stop tithing, I'll save so much 00:44:01.650 --> 00:44:03.430 money." 00:44:03.430 --> 00:44:04.410 But you know what? 00:44:04.410 --> 00:44:05.390 I'd rather... 00:44:05.390 --> 00:44:06.370 I think Evangelo Hassan said this in his sermon. 00:44:06.370 --> 00:44:07.380 Yeah, I think he did. 00:44:07.380 --> 00:44:11.740 He said, "I'd rather have 90% of my finances blessed and 100% of it cursed. 00:44:11.740 --> 00:44:14.230 I'd rather just have all... 00:44:14.230 --> 00:44:20.290 I'd rather have 90% of my finances that I'm earning, and the first fruits goes to God, 00:44:20.290 --> 00:44:24.760 and I get to keep 90% of it, but it's all blessed, than have 100% of it under his curse." 00:44:24.760 --> 00:44:30.690 Because in Deuteronomy 27 and 28, it's just "curse, curse, curse, curse." 00:44:30.690 --> 00:44:34.450 And that can also apply to us back-slutting Christians, if we're not doing his will. 00:44:34.450 --> 00:44:38.570 Especially if we heard the preaching, we know better, as Christians, what we should be doing. 00:44:38.570 --> 00:44:43.410 We know what's acceptable, and we just stop doing the things that we know is right. 00:44:43.410 --> 00:44:46.050 I mean, God will really come down hard on us. 00:44:46.050 --> 00:44:48.320 No, he's graceful, he's very merciful, he's very gracious. 00:44:48.320 --> 00:44:51.130 He's not going to, like, the moment you do it, he's just going to have everything be 00:44:51.130 --> 00:44:52.120 new. 00:44:52.120 --> 00:44:53.320 No, he's not going to do that. 00:44:53.320 --> 00:44:54.920 He'll give you time, and he's understanding, too. 00:44:54.920 --> 00:44:58.860 Like, let's say you skip a couple Sundays to work or something, earn some, to earn some 00:44:58.860 --> 00:45:01.430 extra money, but you repent of that, God's going to forgive you. 00:45:01.430 --> 00:45:06.270 Now, it's not like immediately the moment we stop serving God or something. 00:45:06.270 --> 00:45:10.300 It just comes out with a sledgehammer and just, that's it, you know. 00:45:10.300 --> 00:45:11.270 Now could that happen? 00:45:11.270 --> 00:45:12.240 Yes. 00:45:12.240 --> 00:45:14.050 And the Bible talks about that throughout the Bible. 00:45:14.050 --> 00:45:18.960 Yes, sorry Christians, but God does punish believers if you don't obey his commandments. 00:45:18.960 --> 00:45:20.220 That's just what the Bible says. 00:45:20.220 --> 00:45:21.780 It's all over the New Testament. 00:45:21.780 --> 00:45:25.260 It's all over the Bible. 00:45:25.260 --> 00:45:30.370 So on to section two of my sermon, kind of more the practical tips on how to be thrifty, 00:45:30.370 --> 00:45:33.090 be a good steward of the things you have. 00:45:33.090 --> 00:45:38.140 So and you know, this one was a big theme for me. 00:45:38.140 --> 00:45:42.170 I won't want to preach on it for a while because gas is just getting so expensive. 00:45:42.170 --> 00:45:44.840 Show fans, who here is familiar with the app GasBuddy? 00:45:44.840 --> 00:45:47.170 Car view? 00:45:47.170 --> 00:45:48.120 Awesome. 00:45:48.120 --> 00:45:49.330 Okay, cool. 00:45:49.330 --> 00:45:50.340 Yeah, so that's what I'll be talking about. 00:45:50.340 --> 00:45:54.630 Like the best way to maximize GasBuddy to save a lot of money on gas. 00:45:54.630 --> 00:45:57.130 So a little bit about my driving situation throughout the week. 00:45:57.130 --> 00:46:02.860 I drive roughly 600 miles a week with my car. 00:46:02.860 --> 00:46:07.910 That's how much I drive to work every day and then to church Wednesday and Sunday. 00:46:07.910 --> 00:46:11.400 That's about how many miles I put in my car every week. 00:46:11.400 --> 00:46:14.450 That's why I went for the hybrid because, you know, they're very reliable when it comes 00:46:14.450 --> 00:46:16.250 to that. 00:46:16.250 --> 00:46:21.160 So what I've been doing for almost two years now is I'll get the premium membership for 00:46:21.160 --> 00:46:23.940 GasBuddy, which is 10 bucks a month. 00:46:23.940 --> 00:46:29.910 And I'm saving on average, like I'd say 30 to $40 a month overall, just doing that. 00:46:29.910 --> 00:46:36.510 And then on top of that, go to a gas station that I'll only gas up at, and then I'll sign 00:46:36.510 --> 00:46:40.450 up to their gas program, and then I'll earn points that way. 00:46:40.450 --> 00:46:42.380 So now I'll stack both of them. 00:46:42.380 --> 00:46:47.940 Between those two things, I'm saving on average a week, like three to four bucks every week, 00:46:47.940 --> 00:46:49.620 just doing these two things. 00:46:49.620 --> 00:46:53.780 So on top of that, I'm saving like $20 or $30 right there. 00:46:53.780 --> 00:47:02.200 So I'm spending roughly $25 to $35 a week on gas for driving 600 miles right now to 00:47:02.200 --> 00:47:03.390 the church. 00:47:03.390 --> 00:47:08.820 And that's a great way to really be a good steward with the things God has given you. 00:47:08.820 --> 00:47:11.900 Now I'm not saying you're going to get those exact numbers because every car is different 00:47:11.900 --> 00:47:16.130 with gas mileage and rates and things like that, but this is a great way to really get 00:47:16.130 --> 00:47:21.510 back at the, you know, at my old Ivy church I went to, my pastor called it the gas cartel 00:47:21.510 --> 00:47:25.100 companies because they would always be so expensive and stuff like that. 00:47:25.100 --> 00:47:29.190 It was kind of funny. 00:47:29.190 --> 00:47:32.590 That's a good way to save money right there is everyone's got to gas up their cars, right? 00:47:32.590 --> 00:47:35.760 Everyone's got to put gas in their cars to go anywhere. 00:47:35.760 --> 00:47:38.400 So that's a great way to do it right there. 00:47:38.400 --> 00:47:42.710 And just from me doing that consistently for almost two years, I've saved almost $1,000 00:47:42.710 --> 00:47:45.120 just doing that. 00:47:45.120 --> 00:47:47.600 And it's nothing special. 00:47:47.600 --> 00:47:50.130 And I also snap receipts to earn extra cash as well. 00:47:50.130 --> 00:47:54.120 You can get gift cards, stuff like that, just there's free apps you get on your phone to 00:47:54.120 --> 00:47:55.110 do that. 00:47:55.110 --> 00:47:58.430 And next thing you know, you're earning extra cash and gift cards. 00:47:58.430 --> 00:48:04.440 It's just free money, just money you wouldn't be getting if you weren't doing it before. 00:48:04.440 --> 00:48:11.880 And Proverbs 13, chapter 13, you can turn it off if you want Proverbs chapter 13. 00:48:11.880 --> 00:48:15.530 So why go through all this? Why am I doing this? 00:48:15.530 --> 00:48:20.540 "Wealth gone by vanity shall be diminished, but he that gathers by labor shall increase." 00:48:20.540 --> 00:48:26.930 So that's the thing. I'm earning, I'm working on my job, just getting a paycheck, working 00:48:26.930 --> 00:48:30.620 hard on my job, and then whatever money I'm getting, I'm trying to keep as much as possible. 00:48:30.620 --> 00:48:36.160 You know, that's what, that's what God wants us to do so that we can have more money to 00:48:36.160 --> 00:48:45.590 bless others with. So that was my fourth point. Play the gas rewards points game and you'll 00:48:45.590 --> 00:48:51.820 save big on gas. And point number five, this is just a good tip in general when shopping 00:48:51.820 --> 00:48:55.680 to be a smart shopper to save, to save a lot of money to when you need stuff. Never pay 00:48:55.680 --> 00:48:59.820 anything full price. You don't need to pay anything full price ever. Most of the time 00:48:59.820 --> 00:49:06.400 you can find a deal somewhere. Um, I don't know if anyone's familiar with the app called 00:49:06.400 --> 00:49:11.110 Woot, but it's a company owned by Amazon and they have like all sorts of surplus items 00:49:11.110 --> 00:49:16.060 on there that is great to get. Like I just got a Roomba recently, you know, those, uh, 00:49:16.060 --> 00:49:21.600 robots that, you know, vacuum up around the house. They're usually like $200, $250. I 00:49:21.600 --> 00:49:27.360 was able to get one on Woot for $60. Now they have refurbished and surplus items on there 00:49:27.360 --> 00:49:34.690 for sale for like over 70% off most of the time. So, you know, it's not like we as Christians, 00:49:34.690 --> 00:49:39.870 you know, we'll sometimes work jobs, we'll have to make financial sacrifices for it because 00:49:39.870 --> 00:49:43.430 we want to be in church, right? We want to be at church on Wednesday nights and Sundays. 00:49:43.430 --> 00:49:47.540 So there's some high paying jobs that unfortunately you just won't be able to work for it because 00:49:47.540 --> 00:49:53.420 of that stipulation, right? That doesn't mean you have to fight the financial bully. You 00:49:53.420 --> 00:49:59.700 can actually find good deals and still maintain the same rate of spending and earning as someone 00:49:59.700 --> 00:50:03.620 else that isn't going to church on Wednesday and Sunday. So you can actually almost be 00:50:03.620 --> 00:50:07.490 parallel with that if you're looking for good deals and being a smart shopper. And nothing 00:50:07.490 --> 00:50:12.660 is goodwill. I love goodwill because everything I'm wearing right now pretty much is on goodwill 00:50:12.660 --> 00:50:16.580 except for my shoes because that's the only thing I don't cheapen myself on is good pair 00:50:16.580 --> 00:50:21.630 of shoes. But pretty much everything I, I mean my whole outfit is less than $20. I just 00:50:21.630 --> 00:50:26.020 got this from goodwill. You know you don't have to go to the, you don't have to go to 00:50:26.020 --> 00:50:32.310 Target or Tarjay. I heard people say Tarjay. It's like oh it's a fancy store you know. 00:50:32.310 --> 00:50:35.480 You know we don't need to have the newest fanciest thing all the time. We could just 00:50:35.480 --> 00:50:40.770 have a hand-me-down. Or just something that's on sale. There's nothing wrong with it you 00:50:40.770 --> 00:50:47.390 know. You know like I said goodwill is great for clothes. I mean goodwill has everything. 00:50:47.390 --> 00:50:51.090 They got clothes, they got house appliances, they got all sorts of stuff. They got books 00:50:51.090 --> 00:50:55.430 if you like reading. You know there's great books. Thrift stores are also great places. 00:50:55.430 --> 00:51:05.290 Garage sales you know are just great places to go to get stuff that are cheap. And turn 00:51:05.290 --> 00:51:10.660 with me to Proverbs chapter 31. Now of course Proverbs chapter 31 is talking about the virtuous 00:51:10.660 --> 00:51:15.430 woman but this I believe this can also apply to us just to both sexes to both man and woman 00:51:15.430 --> 00:51:23.640 just on being a good steward. Being thrifty. It says here in verse 13 of Proverbs 31, 00:51:23.640 --> 00:51:28.910 she seeketh wool and flax and worketh willingly with her hands. Now we should be able to 00:51:28.910 --> 00:51:33.070 work with our hands. That's a good thing to do. I do, I won't say a lot, but I do some 00:51:33.070 --> 00:51:37.240 extra work and maintenance on my car that saves me a lot of money too. Now, if you know 00:51:37.240 --> 00:51:43.450 how to work on your car, you know, check your car battery, fill, you know, wiper fluids 00:51:43.450 --> 00:51:47.760 and stuff like that, change out your wiper blades, fill up your tire air and stuff like 00:51:47.760 --> 00:51:53.280 that. I'll say, because a lot of these mechanics now overcharge you like crazy for labor. So 00:51:53.280 --> 00:51:59.460 if you can do your own car work too, that also helps save you money. Obviously, if it's 00:51:59.460 --> 00:52:03.060 something you don't know, just get the work done, get a service. You know, I'm not saying, 00:52:03.060 --> 00:52:06.740 oh, I'll just try to do everything yourself and then next you know, your car doesn't run, 00:52:06.740 --> 00:52:12.870 you know, use discretion. Verse 14, it says, she is like the merchant ships, she brings 00:52:12.870 --> 00:52:17.310 her food from afar. So again, the virtuous wife knows how to get the good deals at the 00:52:17.310 --> 00:52:21.720 supermarket, she'll go to different stores, she'll go, she'll get the coupons from the 00:52:21.720 --> 00:52:26.270 obscure weird places. I don't know how people have coupons before online, but you know, 00:52:26.270 --> 00:52:31.070 there's, if you go online, you can find good coupons as well. And good, good deals online 00:52:31.070 --> 00:52:37.850 for grocery stores. She rises also while it is yet night and give it meat to her household 00:52:37.850 --> 00:52:43.550 and a portion to her maidens. So this virtuous woman is always working. Even at night, she's 00:52:43.550 --> 00:52:49.370 making sure her household is well fed, taken care of. Verse 16, she consider a field and 00:52:49.370 --> 00:52:54.130 buy it that with the fruit of her hands, she planted the vineyard. Again, like in Proverbs 00:52:54.130 --> 00:53:00.900 27 verse 23, it says, be diligent to know the state of thy flocks. She's purchasing 00:53:00.900 --> 00:53:08.390 a field, you know, and we even probably verse 24, verse 27, our actual previous verse of 00:53:08.390 --> 00:53:15.200 the week, it says this as well, or notice that 24, now 24 verse 27, prepare thy work 00:53:15.200 --> 00:53:19.630 without and make it fit for thyself in the field and afterwards build on house. So you 00:53:19.630 --> 00:53:23.640 should be prepared before you make any big purchases like that, because it says in verse 00:53:23.640 --> 00:53:29.990 31 verse 16, she considereth a field. So she didn't just buy the field without considering 00:53:29.990 --> 00:53:35.320 it. She didn't put thought into it. She actually put some foreknowledge and thoughts of, hey, 00:53:35.320 --> 00:53:40.970 does this field going to be good for me for what I'm bringing home? And it was, and she 00:53:40.970 --> 00:53:46.220 bought it. So any big purchases you make, like in a car or a house, make sure to do 00:53:46.220 --> 00:53:51.760 the preparedness. Make sure you run the calculations before you buy it. Make sure it's at a good 00:53:51.760 --> 00:53:56.450 location. Make sure it's close to church. It's close to a town you could do business 00:53:56.450 --> 00:54:03.640 at, go shopping at and things like that. So it's just very practical stuff like that. 00:54:03.640 --> 00:54:08.160 Now, a lot of people are complaining about the economy and stuff like that, but I'm not 00:54:08.160 --> 00:54:11.320 saying everyone that's struggling financially, it's like, Oh, it's their fault or something. 00:54:11.320 --> 00:54:14.120 Obviously a lot of people are struggling and they're doing everything right. They're working 00:54:14.120 --> 00:54:18.760 hard and stuff like that. I get that. I believe that. But also a lot of people, let's just 00:54:18.760 --> 00:54:23.450 face it, most Americans there, I see all these evangelists on set earlier in their sermon 00:54:23.450 --> 00:54:28.650 this morning. How much people spend on Halloween? Like, I don't want to hear you complaining 00:54:28.650 --> 00:54:32.880 about the economy if you're dumping that much money into Halloween. Like, come on, dude, 00:54:32.880 --> 00:54:37.840 just don't spend all that money on the costumes and the candy. If you're that hurting that 00:54:37.840 --> 00:54:42.120 much financially, just skip Halloween that year or stop. Hey, being a Christian's a big 00:54:42.120 --> 00:54:46.520 money saver. It really is. I got rid of my TV. I don't celebrate Halloween. I don't celebrate 00:54:46.520 --> 00:54:51.980 all these pagan holidays. I'm saving so much money just being a Christian. So, you know, 00:54:51.980 --> 00:54:55.040 maybe I should start doing that when trying to get people to say, "Hey, money's tight 00:54:55.040 --> 00:54:59.030 right now. If you get saved, you'll probably save a lot of money." You know? That's a 00:54:59.030 --> 00:55:03.230 joke. I'm not actually going to do that. That's just a joke. But again, like the virtuous 00:55:03.230 --> 00:55:08.290 woman in Proverbs 31, she, you know, worked hard. She was always working with her hands 00:55:08.290 --> 00:55:16.330 willingly, always going out seeking the merchandise, things from afar. And she considereth a field. 00:55:16.330 --> 00:55:22.340 And she, you know, in Proverbs 31, of all the terms I heard about Proverbs 31, no one 00:55:22.340 --> 00:55:29.740 ever said, "Oh, this woman's lazy." Never. She was always working hard, always working 00:55:29.740 --> 00:55:35.980 with her hands. You know, that's the model woman, you know, that guys want, right? And 00:55:35.980 --> 00:55:39.180 you know, again, we can apply this to ourselves as guys as well. We should be hard workers. 00:55:39.180 --> 00:55:44.440 We should be diligent in everything that we do. So that's point number five. Never pay 00:55:44.440 --> 00:55:49.080 anything full price. All right. So, so far, point number one, do not desire to be rich. 00:55:49.080 --> 00:55:53.490 Point number two, God expects us to be good stewards of what we have. Point number three, 00:55:53.490 --> 00:55:58.580 we must balance these two things. Point number four, play the gas rewards points game. It'll 00:55:58.580 --> 00:56:04.160 save big on gas. Point number five, never pay anything full price. Point number six, 00:56:04.160 --> 00:56:10.560 take care of your chariot, bro. Take care of your chariot is your car, by the way. So 00:56:10.560 --> 00:56:14.150 I already talked about this a little bit. So just some practical tips on how to take 00:56:14.150 --> 00:56:19.180 care of your car to always, to avoid a lot of the pitfalls of car maintenance. Change 00:56:19.180 --> 00:56:24.890 your oil every 5,000 miles, or if it's specified in the manual, 10,000 miles. This will save 00:56:24.890 --> 00:56:27.710 you a lot of trouble right here. Because a lot of times, a lot of people have a lot of 00:56:27.710 --> 00:56:32.480 big troubles in their car, simply because they don't change their oil. I mean, I've 00:56:32.480 --> 00:56:36.670 heard it a couple of times where people have like this huge mechanical engine issue could 00:56:36.670 --> 00:56:41.090 have been totally avoided if they just changed their oil. So that's a big one. Also rotate 00:56:41.090 --> 00:56:45.300 your tires at the same interval. And some might get, pretty much every time I get my 00:56:45.300 --> 00:56:50.190 oil change again, my tires rotated. That helps really extend the life of your tires. And 00:56:50.190 --> 00:56:55.930 everyone here, as far as I'm concerned, has to drive at least an hour to church. You know, 00:56:55.930 --> 00:57:00.820 this is stuff that will help your car last longer. Now, cars are expensive. So I really, 00:57:00.820 --> 00:57:08.750 now I want for my car, I want to get the most out of my car, most life. So regularly check 00:57:08.750 --> 00:57:15.820 your tire pressure. I do every two weeks because especially now with, you know, how inconsistent 00:57:15.820 --> 00:57:20.510 the weather and the temperatures have been, I believe it's like every 10 to 15 degrees 00:57:20.510 --> 00:57:25.250 increase or decrease, your tire pressure can increase or decrease by one to two pressure 00:57:25.250 --> 00:57:33.490 PSI. So I check my tire pressure every two weeks just to stay on top of it. I have one 00:57:33.490 --> 00:57:37.630 of those portable inflators that you just plug into the car jack and it can inflate 00:57:37.630 --> 00:57:43.800 the, inflate the tires. That helps a lot too, because if you've got tires that are low in 00:57:43.800 --> 00:57:48.810 air pressure, that can cause issues with the tires and it's also going to kill your gas 00:57:48.810 --> 00:57:55.810 mileage as well, which gas is expensive. You don't want to do that. And this is something 00:57:55.810 --> 00:58:00.880 I do also every so often. So every time I get an oil change and things like that, and 00:58:00.880 --> 00:58:05.670 next time I gas up after that, I also use a fuel additive that cleans out the whole 00:58:05.670 --> 00:58:11.050 fuel lining system. I use Chevron Tecron. That's great to use because what that does 00:58:11.050 --> 00:58:15.790 is you know, gunk builds up over time and the fuel injectors and the engine and things 00:58:15.790 --> 00:58:21.270 like that. So you pour that stuff in before you fill it. The next time you fill up, it'll 00:58:21.270 --> 00:58:24.750 clean all that out. Just make sure you do that when your tank's almost empty. That's 00:58:24.750 --> 00:58:30.520 my tip on that as well. And again, what's the point of all this? The point of all this 00:58:30.520 --> 00:58:37.600 is so that you can serve God with very little distractions. Can you effectively serve God 00:58:37.600 --> 00:58:42.420 when you've got to constantly fix your car? Can you effectively serve God and be faithful 00:58:42.420 --> 00:58:45.340 to the church when your car is constantly breaking down, where you're having trouble 00:58:45.340 --> 00:58:52.250 paying bills? You can't, you know. And it's hard. I'm not saying this stuff's easy to 00:58:52.250 --> 00:58:55.990 do. It's not. I mean, you know, sometimes I'll get home from work after work in 10 hours 00:58:55.990 --> 00:58:58.790 and I'm spending another two to three hours just doing all this stuff in my car. I'm just 00:58:58.790 --> 00:59:03.950 like, "Man, I just want to go to sleep," you know? But this is all stuff that is helping 00:59:03.950 --> 00:59:11.740 me maintain and keep everything doing I'm doing right now for the Lord. And, you know, 00:59:11.740 --> 00:59:19.530 if I wasn't doing this, I mean, I'd be broke. And I walked this. I'm not sure how accurate 00:59:19.530 --> 00:59:24.390 this is, but chariots in the Bible, they're pretty expensive. In 2 Chronicles 1, 17, 00:59:24.390 --> 00:59:30.010 you can turn there if you want. And again, I SAI this, and I tried to verify the sources. 00:59:30.010 --> 00:59:33.570 So take this with a grain of salt. I'm not sure how accurate this is. Just want to throw 00:59:33.570 --> 00:59:41.060 this out there. It says in 2 Chronicles 1, 17, "And they fetched up and brought forth 00:59:41.060 --> 00:59:49.070 out of Egypt a chariot for 600 shekels of silver and a horse for 150, and so brought 00:59:49.070 --> 00:59:53.780 they out horses for all the canes of the Hittites and for the canes of Syria by their means." 00:59:53.780 --> 01:00:00.380 So a horse is 150 shekels of silver. A chariot is 600. So again, I don't know how accurate 01:00:00.380 --> 01:00:08.020 this is, but 600 shekels of silver would be roughly $5,000 today, which I would say that's 01:00:08.020 --> 01:00:13.700 probably not off the mark that much because that's about the average price for our used 01:00:13.700 --> 01:00:17.750 car today with, I would say, over 120,000 miles. You could probably get a used car for 01:00:17.750 --> 01:00:28.090 $5,000 to $10,000. But again, the Bible emphasizes the price of the chariots here. You know, 01:00:28.090 --> 01:00:31.810 in the book of Judges, too, it talks about how they couldn't drive out the people with 01:00:31.810 --> 01:00:36.810 the chariots of iron. So chariots were a really powerful instrument of war in the ancient 01:00:36.810 --> 01:00:42.120 times, because again, there was no guns, there's no armaments back then, ballistic armaments. 01:00:42.120 --> 01:00:47.680 So all they had was slingshots, rocks, stone, maybe a sword. So you have to go up toe-to-toe 01:00:47.680 --> 01:00:52.340 with someone with a giant chariot with probably spiked wheels. They could just run you over 01:00:52.340 --> 01:00:59.150 with that chariot. That was basically the ancient warfare of the tank. Now, can you 01:00:59.150 --> 01:01:05.100 take down a tank with just your small pistol? No. Unless you're lucky, but more than likely 01:01:05.100 --> 01:01:11.360 not. And again, they were expensive, yet you've got to maintain your car. Maintain that so 01:01:11.360 --> 01:01:17.810 that you can continue to come here as well. It's a thing that's been happening. I've had 01:01:17.810 --> 01:01:22.740 car issues. A couple other people in this church had car issues. It's a sacrifice we 01:01:22.740 --> 01:01:26.250 make because we love the Lord. We love this church. We want to see souls saved. We want 01:01:26.250 --> 01:01:31.220 to evangelize the lost and edify the brethren. That's why we come to this church. That's 01:01:31.220 --> 01:01:36.510 why a lot of us are driving hour, hour and a half, even two hours to come here because 01:01:36.510 --> 01:01:41.610 we love the work of God that's being done here in this area. I mean, is there, is there, 01:01:41.610 --> 01:01:44.560 I can't think of any other church in this state alone that's getting protested as much 01:01:44.560 --> 01:01:49.630 as we are right now as viciously. It's just God really is doing a lot of work through 01:01:49.630 --> 01:01:54.270 us. So it's important that we keep doing what we're doing and this is how we're going to 01:01:54.270 --> 01:01:59.650 be able to keep doing it. Point. So that was point number six. Take care of your, your 01:01:59.650 --> 01:02:08.430 collar, bro, your chariot. Point number seven, save, save, save. It's very important that 01:02:08.430 --> 01:02:12.480 you get in the habit of this. You know, if you don't have a budget, that's wrong right 01:02:12.480 --> 01:02:18.650 there. You should have a budget. That's really important. That way you're able to take a 01:02:18.650 --> 01:02:23.230 hundred percent ownership of all your finances, know where your money's going, because that's 01:02:23.230 --> 01:02:27.200 the thing. A lot of people, they don't realize how much they're spending like on monthly 01:02:27.200 --> 01:02:32.350 subscriptions or streaming services or stuff like that. So it's definitely a good thing 01:02:32.350 --> 01:02:36.290 to do at some point just to take a walk and see where your money's going. That way you 01:02:36.290 --> 01:02:40.650 can take a hundred percent ownership, know where everything's going, and have a budget. 01:02:40.650 --> 01:02:44.580 That way you can have a good, clear idea of where you're at and what you can do and how 01:02:44.580 --> 01:02:53.140 you can reach your goals in the future. And again, it may be hard at first, but once you 01:02:53.140 --> 01:02:56.130 do it over and over again, it just becomes habit. It's like anything. You just get used 01:02:56.130 --> 01:03:01.780 to it. You start doing it and it'll help. And again, it bears repeating Proverbs 24 01:03:01.780 --> 01:03:07.050 verse 23, "Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks." Again, I think we can apply 01:03:07.050 --> 01:03:12.630 that to finances. God wants us to be responsible, especially as guys. We should, in my opinion, 01:03:12.630 --> 01:03:17.020 in the marriage, should be running the finances. Hey, if the wife's good at it and she's trustworthy 01:03:17.020 --> 01:03:21.890 to do it, that's fine too. I don't see anything wrong with that. We as guys should be able to 01:03:21.890 --> 01:03:31.960 run a budget, be able to pay our bills on time and all the time. And I never like getting money from 01:03:31.960 --> 01:03:35.270 the government. I just don't, you know, like all these government programs to help you and stuff. 01:03:35.270 --> 01:03:38.470 And I get it. If you do that, you gotta do what you gotta do. I get that. I'm not coming down hard 01:03:38.470 --> 01:03:42.910 on anyone that's done that. But I'd like to be able to take care of myself without needing help of 01:03:42.910 --> 01:03:47.360 the government or anything like that. And I believe the church, you know, honestly, there's 01:03:47.360 --> 01:03:51.500 nothing wrong with helping a brother out and the church is really struggling. If they're struggling, 01:03:51.500 --> 01:03:56.440 they're working hard, they're paying their bills, nothing wrong with helping them out, you know. 01:03:56.440 --> 01:04:02.340 So in conclusion, this isn't, again, this isn't about stockpiling money just for the sake of 01:04:02.340 --> 01:04:09.950 having money. This is for forwarding the kingdom of God and His work. That is why I'm preaching 01:04:09.950 --> 01:04:15.200 this sermon. The whole reason why I wanted to preach this sermon was there's some tips and tricks 01:04:15.200 --> 01:04:20.830 I picked up on just being able to save myself some money. Maybe, hopefully, someone got something from 01:04:20.830 --> 01:04:26.060 this sermon. Maybe that'll help them financially because it's tough. Money's tight right now. It's 01:04:26.060 --> 01:04:31.400 not easy, you know. Inflation's gone through the roof. I mean, gas has gone up. Groceries are up. 01:04:31.400 --> 01:04:37.360 It's tough, you know. But there are ways you can still be on top of it. It's not impossible. 01:04:37.360 --> 01:04:41.540 You know, some people, they got that attitude where it's like, well, that's it. I'm going to 01:04:41.540 --> 01:04:47.250 give up, it's toast, you know, and they'll blame society. That's the wrong attitude. No, we can 01:04:47.250 --> 01:04:55.360 still have an influence and effort and control what we have. I want to go back to Ecclesiastes 01:04:55.360 --> 01:05:01.990 chapter six. This just came back to my mind. I think it was Ecclesiastes chapter six. Yes, 01:05:01.990 --> 01:05:07.210 it says in verse nine, "Better is the sight of the eyes than the wondering of the desire." A lot of 01:05:07.210 --> 01:05:11.790 people, they got this big dream what they want to do, right? They want to be like, oh, well, once I 01:05:11.790 --> 01:05:15.920 have this, I know what I'm going to do. Okay, what are you doing right now, though? What do you have 01:05:15.920 --> 01:05:21.440 right now? That's the question everyone should be asking themselves. What do you have right now? 01:05:21.440 --> 01:05:28.380 Because that's where you can control. You know, honestly, I get it. Politics is ridiculous. I 01:05:28.380 --> 01:05:32.470 mean, what we're doing over there in Israel is absolutely disgusting. It's just terrible. It's 01:05:32.470 --> 01:05:39.620 horrific, honestly, just how we're supporting a genitalal state like Israel. But you know what, 01:05:39.620 --> 01:05:44.140 I can't control that. What do you want me to do about that? Okay, all I can do is what I can do. 01:05:44.140 --> 01:05:50.090 You know, you got a job, you're earning money, you're doing the best you can do. That's it. 01:05:50.090 --> 01:05:54.810 You know, are you winning souls? Are you being faithful to the Lord? Are you going to church? 01:05:54.810 --> 01:05:59.160 You know, you going out there just preaching gospel to people, that, you know, 01:05:59.160 --> 01:06:04.230 I know we don't really see the spiritual realm, and it's kind of hard to keep that in mind 01:06:04.230 --> 01:06:10.390 throughout our lives as we go throughout the week, because we can't see it. But when someone gets 01:06:10.390 --> 01:06:16.840 saved, their soul is saved forever by the Holy Ghost. Like, that's God. According to Acts chapter 01:06:16.840 --> 01:06:23.210 five verse four, that is God. The Holy Ghost is part of the Trinity. So when you're saved, 01:06:23.210 --> 01:06:28.640 when someone gets saved, they're literally in God's hands forever. So the president of the United 01:06:28.640 --> 01:06:34.440 States can't do that. He's not saved. Like, all these powerful people that are in power right now, 01:06:34.440 --> 01:06:40.960 that have all access to all these resources, all this power, will they ever knock on someone's door 01:06:40.960 --> 01:06:44.790 preaching the gospel? No. They say they don't know how to go to heaven themselves, a lot of them. 01:06:44.790 --> 01:06:50.760 They just don't. You know, at the end of the day, you could be the most powerful person on this 01:06:50.760 --> 01:06:56.060 planet. You can have all the wealth, all the resources, everything. But if you're not saved, 01:06:56.060 --> 01:07:03.860 what was the point? That's why the Bible says in Ecclesiastes, "Ye know he lived a thousand years 01:07:03.860 --> 01:07:12.330 twice told." So 2,000 years, yet he has seen no good. Do not all go to one place. You could live 01:07:12.330 --> 01:07:19.850 2,000 years. If there's no good in your life, if you've done nothing good for the Lord with your 01:07:19.850 --> 01:07:25.530 life, you're going to die and be in the grave anyway. I mean, all go to one place eventually. 01:07:25.530 --> 01:07:32.290 Everyone dies. We're all going to die. You might, you know, that's the attitude. It is. You know, 01:07:32.290 --> 01:07:38.470 we have a very limited time on this earth. We really do. I mean, next thing you know, 01:07:38.470 --> 01:07:44.530 you're going to blank and five years went by. And one, when that day comes, when you die 01:07:44.530 --> 01:07:48.170 and you're with the Lord in heaven, and it ain't going to matter how much money you have in the 01:07:48.170 --> 01:07:52.120 bank. It's just not. I mean, this is really, the money we have is like the monopoly of play money. 01:07:52.120 --> 01:07:55.440 Yeah. It matters when you're playing monopoly, right? But once the game's over, it's like, 01:07:55.440 --> 01:08:00.090 who cares? I don't care how much money I had in monopoly in that round. It's going to be 01:08:00.090 --> 01:08:04.720 like that when we get to heaven. It's only important right now because we're in this life 01:08:04.720 --> 01:08:10.350 right now. But once we're dead, it's not going to matter. It just isn't. Again, be smart with 01:08:10.350 --> 01:08:15.370 what you have so that you can do a lot for the Lord and maximize the work you can do for God in 01:08:15.370 --> 01:08:21.870 this life. But don't let that overtake you. Don't let that be just everything because at the end, 01:08:21.870 --> 01:08:28.390 it's not going to matter. So we're all going to die one day. And I'll end with this in Matthew 01:08:28.390 --> 01:08:42.960 chapter six thing. Well, different part of Matthew chapter six. Matthew six, chapter 19. This is the 01:08:42.960 --> 01:08:49.880 last place we're turning to. "Weigh not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and 01:08:49.880 --> 01:08:56.130 rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through in steel." But watch this. "But weigh up for 01:08:56.130 --> 01:09:03.000 yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not 01:09:03.000 --> 01:09:08.490 break through in steel." Every reward you get in heaven, no one can steal that. God's guarding 01:09:08.490 --> 01:09:13.170 that. And no one can get to heaven if you're saved in the first place. So can even saved people 01:09:13.170 --> 01:09:19.700 theoretically go to heaven and steal your rewards? No, because God's keeping that. Verse 21, "For 01:09:19.700 --> 01:09:27.100 where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Where's your heart at? Is it in God? Is it 01:09:27.100 --> 01:09:31.600 in the things of God, ultimately? Or is it in something else? Listen, if it's in something else, 01:09:31.600 --> 01:09:35.700 you gotta tear that down. And, you know, I'm not, I don't have anyone particular in mind when I say 01:09:35.700 --> 01:09:40.630 that. I'm just saying, in general, if you've got an idol in your life that is in the place of God, 01:09:40.630 --> 01:09:45.770 you gotta get that out of the way. And you gotta have this as the forefront of your life, the Bible, 01:09:45.770 --> 01:09:51.760 the Word of God. With that, we'll close with a word of prayer. Thank you, Lord, so much for 01:09:51.760 --> 01:09:56.170 this church, Lord. I just pray, Lord, for this church, Lord, that we would be good stewards of 01:09:56.170 --> 01:09:59.310 the things that we have, Lord, so that we can continue to glorify you, Lord, in everything that 01:09:59.310 --> 01:10:05.200 we do. And I just pray, God, you keep the church safe, Lord, from people that seek the hurt, 01:10:05.200 --> 01:10:11.870 Lord. In your name, Jesus, we ask for your prayer. Amen. Thank you, Brother Stephen, 01:10:11.870 --> 01:10:20.490 for a good applicable sermon. Let's sing one last song. Go to song number 384, "In the Service 01:10:20.490 --> 01:10:45.510 of the King," song 384. On the 1st. I am happy in the service of the king. I am happy, oh so happy. 01:10:45.510 --> 01:11:00.120 I have peace and joy that nothing else can bring. In the service of the king. In the service of the 01:11:00.120 --> 01:11:16.290 king. Every talent I will bring. I have peace and joy and blessing in the service of the king. 01:11:16.290 --> 01:11:30.150 Happy in the service of the king. I am happy, oh so happy. Through the sunshine and the shadow, 01:11:30.150 --> 01:12:00.960 I can see the service of the king. Service the king. I am happy in the service of the king. 01:12:00.960 --> 01:12:16.250 The service of the king. 01:12:16.250 --> 01:12:42.240 Wishing you all the prayer, thank you for this day. I pray that you'll help us be thrifty, 01:12:42.240 --> 01:12:48.030 be a good steward of our finance of what you've given us so we can glorify you better. In the 01:12:48.030 --> 01:12:52.260 the praise in Jesus name. Amen. Alright thank you for coming today. I know